Calling Pete and any other astronomical boffins

[dillon-in-bayern]

For some time now I've had it in mind to get a telescope, mainly for Mrs Wabbit but I'm sure I'd use it too and also want to connect my DSLR to it.

I had a look in Munich today and saw a Meade XTE 125 for € 899 which, according to the nice sales chappy is capable of all I want, which is to look at the moon, Saturn .. etc and also some deep sky.

Your knowledgeable comments and advice is welcomed,

Wabbit

[al**bear]

A Wee song for ye Wabbit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB4UahoYc2I

[geographically*challenged]

i'll see if I can drw Pete out of his gru nd s if he can help. He's got new elescope so he maybe piaying with it 😉

[Anonymous]

Hi Dillon, usually i let people decide for themselves what scope to buy, as on a few occassions a reccomdation made by myself has fallen foul with the person's i was trying to help. What i will say and this is only my advice,

dont buy the first scope you see

dont be conned by the magnifacation power (a good rule of thumb is twice the magnifacation of the main mirror or lens, ie a 125mm scope will give 250 magnifacation but thats its limit, and on a very good night, pitch dark, no clouds or mist and no moon)

make sure the mount is strong enough to hold the scope (at any angle) and that the tripod that the mount attatches to is rigid, a wobbly tripod no matter how good the scope makes the whole kit usless.

Think to yourself what do you wish to see?  a 125mm scope will show the moon, and with a solar filter sun spots, you will see jupiter as a small disc, if you use a 20mm eyepiece, use a 40mm eyepiece to see jupiter and its moons in the same frame. saturn will be harder to see as its further away, even my 200mm scope just shows saturn a bit larger than this 0. you will see the orion nebula but you will need a time controlled camera and tracking mount to show the colours of the gasses that form the nebula.

buy a book on astonomy (turn left at orion) a must to find your way around the cosmos.

a word of caution NEVER EVER LOOK AT THE SUN THROUGH A TELESCOPE WITHOUT A SOLAR FILTER. a proper filter fits over the Front end of the scope, never use an eyepice solar filter because when it cracks then you will be blinded. also dont forget to cover up the guide scopes lens as well.

 For the Meade 125mm, the price is about right (in euros) for me a five inch scope is a good starter scope and meade do have a good reputation for great scopes. the scope will be a grab and go, ie easy to carry, assemble  and stow (if put into a car and taken to a dark site) once set up the views you will see will blow your mind. i dont know the focal length of the 125mm so i dont know its F ratio. i have the skywatcher 125mm equivalent and you have seen my pics taken by that scope  

imho i would say go for it

.

[dillon-in-bayern]

Hi Pete and thanks for that.

The first scope I saw which I'd really like was another Meade but on special offer at €1500, ouch. That one was also too large and heavy to be called portable. What I liked about the ETX 125 was it's portability, as I would like us to be able to take it on holiday in the car. The ETX is only around 10-15kg.

Online reviews are quite mixed with a few build quality issues being highlighted, especially around the mount.

My timesacale is not urgent and I do want to see if I can find a Munich store stocking Celestion, which seem to have more positive reviews, but then I have no idea of the size and portability of those.

Wegards,

Wabbit

[Anonymous]

Hi dillon, may i give a few suggestions of makes.

Celestron

Meade

SkyWatcher............i can really vouch for

Vixin

Orion

Not in any order of prefrance but all good makes (i would say the top five).

i recently bought a Skywatcher Evostar 120mm refractor scope and for me its the bee's knees.

Bessy my new baby. (because its the best).

[Anonymous]

My 125mm SkyWatcher scope.

[tommy.irene]

Out of this world!

Hubble telescope spots 'cosmic caterpillar' that's SIX TRILLION miles long.

Read more here: http://dailym.ai/1dsUIoT

[renomarvinm]

I am not familiar with the telescope you mentioned, but for truly professional results, here are a couple of tips:

1.  Get at least an 8 inch diameter reflector.  Lets see, in metric that would be about 20.4 centimeters, I think.

2.  MOUNTINGS are vital!  AVOID a dobsonian mounting at all costs.  German Equitorial mountings are OK, but they're not the best.  You want a standard equitorial mounting.

3.  Some sort of computer drive would be best.

4.  DON'T look at the sun!

5.  Don't look at your neighbor's girlfriend, either, unless you have kevlar underwear....  (Don't ask, hee, hee..  oh, boy!)

[tommy.irene]

This is our tiny Earth compared to other planets and stars. Wow, we're just a dot floating through space 

Watch the video here: http://www.wimp.com/starsize/

[bankhaunter]

And this is just how big that dot is from 3.7 billion miles away

[Anonymous]

I see on the planet/star sizes they have missed out the planet Uranus.............i wonder why?

[cee-dee]

That do?

[cee-dee]

I've just been out with the dog and the absence of the Moon allows for many, many more Stars to be seen, truly, the Greatest Show on Earth?

[Anonymous]

Something i now miss thanks to the council in their wisdom placing two street lights either side of my back garden. Hi CD i wonder if people know the name of the planet that the tv show Third rock from the sun was based upon?

[cee-dee]

No, they'd probably scratch their heads?